Last week Wednesday, four OIS student staff members* joined a group of 15 student leaders for tea with USC’s President C.L. Max Nikias. The “President’s Tea” is organized on a monthly basis, and provides students who play an active role in the USC community with an opportunity to engage the President.
This month, the tea took place the day after the U.S. presidential election race between candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had come to its surprising end. Trump had prevailed over Clinton by a narrow margin, and was now headed for the White House. This backdrop could not be overlooked as supporters of both sides sat down at the table to discuss the affairs of one overarching common interest: The University of Southern California.
Once everyone had helped themselves to tea, sandwiches, and cakes, President Nikias summoned the students to the table and opened the dialogue. He explained that, having been an educator before entering into the field of administration, he missed interaction with the student body. Interaction with the student body is essential at a school like USC, where the Trojan Family network is everything. In order to keep his finger on the pulse of USC’s vibrant student community, President Nikias started hosting students for open discussions on how to make USC even more fantastic than it already is.
With that, the President asked each of his guests to mention one good thing about USC, and one area in need of improvement. Suggestions ranged from changes in curriculum to the desire for a new law school building. Overall, the students were all agreed that major benefits of USC included the facilities, the impressive diversity in potential majors, as well as the famous Trojan Network itself. Taking extensive notes, President Nikias assured everyone that their requests would be taken into consideration.
All in all, students left the tea feeling confident that their ideas had been heard by those at the very top of the school administration.
*OIS student staff members in attendance were: Rogier Bogle-van Geel, Paul Santi, Karim Sami, and Darshan Jaware.